Counter- propaganda and Citizen Journalism since 2014

‘Do I have to say this? I feel sick. Does my smile not look a bit sickly?’

Up early today? 06:26 am and still a bit fragile? Good. Here we go after a nice wee ‘Hallo’ and ‘Good Morning’:

Figures obtained by the BBC (no, really?) suggest about 8% of meat tested in Scotland last year was found to contain the DNA of animals not listed on the labelling – illegal,kebabs, pizza toppings! DNA? Nooo!! Ham instead of chicken! E.coli? No? BSE? Salmonella? Scrapie? Thrichinosis (from pork)? None of these just ham instead of chicken? OK. Should we have a hard border?

A charity (you can always trust charities) is warning that Scotland is facing a child mental health crisis! The Mental Health Foundation is calling for greater awareness in schools. Could the increase in coming forward and reporting be a good thing, a sign of a more aware, open and tolerant society? No, doesn’t fit this morning’s horror theme? When he says depression IS on the rise and anxiety IS on the rise, should he have said reporting is on the rise? I see actual suicide rates are falling quite fast in Scotland. Is that evidence of anything? No? Even if depression and anxiety are actually on the rise, might schools be helpless in changing things in the context of more likely causes such as Westminster’s austerity policies, Ruth’s Holyrood interventions or even your reporting?

The RMT union is refusing to work extra hours! Maybe it will stop BBC Scotland staff getting to work? Look on the bright side.

Had enough? Just one more. A new system to enable students to report gender-based violence – Zero tolerance! Abuse! Sexual harassment! Stalking!

There now you feel depressed and anxious again. That’s good. Feel like constitutional change? No, just want to curl up? OK we’ll finish with a nice wee story about birds and then the weather. It’ll be quite nice. You can go for a wee walk and do some mindfulness. There you go. Byeeeee.

Remember, a thousand stories were out there. They chose these ones!

Don’t travel. Don’t eat anything. Don’t think anything. Don’t speak to members of the other sex. You’ll be a bit down but safe.

The increase in teenage suicides in London has outpaced that across the rest of England and Wales in a three year period, leading to warnings of a “pressure cooker of conditions” facing young people in the capital.

There were 29 deaths by suicide among 10- to 19-year-olds in 2015-16, compared with 14 in 2013-14 – an increase of 107%. In England and Wales, the number of such deaths rose by 24% from 148 to 184.

And, to ensure’ balance’ GMS had two ‘political commentators’ to give an opinion on the First Minister’s speech. These two ‘experts’ were the political editors of the Scottish Daily Mail and the Daily Ranger

Hi John. Here’s a bit of dry stuff – but really important. I suspect one will search long and hard for any mention in ‘Scottish’ msm.

Scottish Legal site mentioned that: The Scottish Courts and Tribunals Service (SCTS) has announced plans to publish a new statistical bulletin providing quarterly data on criminal case activity in the Scottish courts for the first time.

This initiative is intended to be of use to anyone with an interest in the flow of activity through Scotland’s courts and is expected to be of particular interest to legal practitioners and researchers. It marks a further move by the SCTS in promoting availability of court statistics following the introduction of the Quarterly Fines Report.

Welcoming the announcement, Andrew Alexander, head of policy at the Law Society of Scotland, said: “I think it’s a very helpful publication and a commendable commitment to open data. With the number of criminal cases changing locally and nationally, I think that this will be a very helpful resource to practitioners, allowing for better prediction and planning.”

SNP Scottish Govt = Open Govt – so far so good.

I had a very quick look at the site (link below) – the figures are a remarkable testament to the transformative work that the SNP Scottish Govt has been quietly undertaking throughout ‘institutional Scotland’. Just take a look at the trends demonstrated in each of the Court categories (This against a background of increased numbers and complexity of cases). – Truly remarkable stuff involving reductions in trials adjourned due to lack of Court time across the piece.

Getting on with that day job rather impressively I’d say. Yet another bit of good stuff to put in the CV for Indy (coming soon to a Nation near you).

All Criminal Courts: The percentage of trials adjourned due to lack of court time fell from 5.6% in 2014/15 to 4.1% in 2017/18 – a drop of 1.5 percentage points.

The High Court of Justiciary: The percentage of trials adjourned due to lack of court time fell from 2.2% in 2014/15 to 0.0% in 2017/18.

The Sheriff Court – solemn business: The volume of trials scheduled shows an improvement of 60% over the period from the end of March 2015 to end of March 2018. The percentage of trials adjourned due to lack of court time fell from 7.1% in 2014/15 to 3.8% in 2017/18 – a drop of 3.3 percentage points.

The Sheriff Court – summary business: The volume of trials scheduled at the end of each financial year shows an improvement of 32% over the period. The percentage of trials adjourned due to lack of court time fell from 6.1% in 2014/15 to 4.7% in 2017/18 – a drop of 1.4 percentage points.

The Justice of the Peace Court: The volume of trials scheduled at the end of each financial year shows an improvement of 67% over the period. The percentage of trials adjourned due to lack of court time fell from 4.0% in 2014/15 to 2.3% in 2017/18 – a drop of 1.7 percentage points.

It’s enough to make you weep , I don’t know why I punish myself every day listening to the drivel they come up with but somebody’s got to do it if only to keep track of the misinformation they put out ! .